United Just Announced Its Largest-ever Transatlantic Expansion — Here's Where They're Flying Next
United Airlines will fly to five brand-new destinations next year in its largest-ever transatlantic expansion and will be adding new routes that were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company shared with Travel + Leisure on Thursday.
The airline will now include flights to Amman, Jordan; Bergen, Norway; Azores, Portugal; Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands. United will also launch seven routes that were interrupted by the pandemic, including Bangalore, India; Frankfurt, Germany; and Nice, France.
When flights are up and running, the expansion will mean United has more coverage to Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa than its competitors, Patrick Quayle, the senior vice president of international network and alliances at United, shared during a media call.
"If you think back to April of 2020, it's quite remarkable how far we've come," Quayle said. "We want to return to being fun. We want everyone to be jazzed up and looking forward to traveling to exciting destinations."
In addition to the new flights, United will also increase its service to already-popular cities like Berlin, Dublin, and Milan.
Courtesy of United Airlines
Flights will to Amman will launch on May 5 from Washington, D.C. on its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. That will be followed by flights to Ponta Delgada in the Azores on May 13 from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport on its brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8. The company said the flight will make it the only airline to fly to the Azores from the New York metro area.
On May 20, United will add flights to Bergen from Newark on June 2, it will start flights from Newark to Palma de Mallorca, and on June 9 it will launch flights from Newark to Tenerife.
Quayle said the new flights will offer customers the chance to explore "new, unexpected places that we believe will become the hottest destinations in the years to come."
"We do expect transatlantic [travel] will be quite robust and it will be very positive for us at United," Quayle added about the outlook for 2022. "We're confident with the vaccine mandate, we're confident in the vaccine proliferation across the globe and the strong bookings we've been seeing…We're confident that bookings across the transatlantic will be the best that they've been."
Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram.
